Leaving super on for winter

[fullframe45]

Just a quick question from a newbie. As this is my first year and due to quite a few minor problems i now find that i have only a couple of frames containing honey in the super and so i have decided just to leave them for the bees for winter. I am on a brood and half and so if i was to move the super under the bottom brood box and leave till possibly spring would i place a queen excluder between the super and brood box or not. Or just as i normally do and have one on the top box. Thanks

 

[Ian123]

Do not separate any part of the hive in the winter with a qx. And if there’s only a couple of frames why bother leave them in a single brood job done.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Never leave a queen excluder anywhere on a hive over winter - the cluster will not move through it and leave the queen behind so they will just sit there and starve within inches of stores.
Are the frames capped already?

 

[drex]

I would put the super under, let them move the stores up and then take it off. Winter on a single brood as that seems all the space they need, since they have done so little in the super.

 

[enrico]

Put a crown board on top of your brood boxes. Leave or make a small hole.put an eke or a totally empty super on the crown board. Score any capped stores. Put the super on top of that. Do this in the evening. They will rob it out and take it down into the hive or....... Just swap the full super frames with empty ones in your half a brood box that is there!
E

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If you are on brood and a half, with no other supers, then there is no queen excluder present in any case. So leave as they are as I assume you are happy with brood in both boxes. Treat for varroa and feed as necessary.

Or do you have a super AND brood and a half? In which case I would be inclined to follow enrico's advice rather than drex.

Simple reason is that at this time of year, the super under could be vulnerable to wasps as the bees, who would normally protect the stores, would be too far away to do so well. That's why I would 'nadir' or put a full super under the brood box at the end of September when wasp robbing is not much of an issue.

 

[fullframe45]

Did inspection today and working upwards from the brood box that was looking very full, i had capped brood on three frames and plenty of lava did not see any eggs it became very overcast and stores on the rest of the frames that are looking quite dark and old.
In half brood box five and a half frames of capped honey and they are working on a couple of the others.up to the queen excluder and then the super with only a couple of frames partly drawn and working on they have not done much on theese for last three weeks or so.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I would add the frames of honey in the top super to the half brood box and remove the top super. Remove the QX and feed as required to provide the bees adequate stores for Winter.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Did inspection today and working upwards from the brood box that was looking very full, i had capped brood on three frames and plenty of lava did not see any eggs it became very overcast and stores on the rest of the frames that are looking quite dark and old.
In half brood box five and a half frames of capped honey and they are working on a couple of the others.up to the queen excluder and then the super with only a couple of frames partly drawn and working on they have not done much on theese for last three weeks or so.

Sounds like even brood and a half was too much space for those bees, too late now but I think they would have fared better without the extra shallow on top of the initial 'half' IE single brood,then, once that had eight frames of brood, a queen excluder then a super.
You can take the 'super' off now as there seems to be nothing in it.